


Not this reality

by rewind_and_replay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universes, Character Death, Drabbles, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, all the paladins, because this is Matt's story and he loves his little sis, gossiping galras, mentions of torture, more tags will be added as the storry progresses, the first one is sad.but it gets better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-09-22 12:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9608003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rewind_and_replay/pseuds/rewind_and_replay
Summary: A drabble series depicting the many possible ways Matt’s life could go after the galra capture, each set in a different reality.Mentions of Shatt. (Probably mostly one-sided)Mentions of death.





	1. One is the loneliest number

~1~

“Two is company, four is a party, three is a crowd. One is a wanderer.”

/James Thurber/

* * *

 

Shiro saved him. Pushed him down and injured him and effectively took his spot in the terrifying arena fights. Shiro went battle after battle in that arena, eventually gaining the title of „Champion”. Matt heard the rumors circling around the holding cells while they were being prepared to be shipped off to another ... ship.

Right before the departure he heard a new kind of rumor. Not about the battles or the work camps or the favorite battle tactics of their lord – Zarkon. This was a rumor of an escapee. The druids’ best work yet had fled. Possibly with outside help. The Champion was on the ship no more.

Shiro was gone.

‘It’s better this way’ Matt thought to himself, as he and his father were put in two different carrier ships. No one dared to oppose the sentries armed with space guns and unforgiving, pure calculation based program-cores.

At least Shiro’s chances of living had escalated. This was good. He might even make it back to Earth. Might even meet Katie. Matt smiled a little, relieved that at least one of them would be somewhat safe.

He spent the rest of the “trip” to wherever the aliens were taking them analyzing the Galra ship and the weapons the sentries were equipped with from afar.

Matt didn’t try to understand his neighboring captive’s strange languages, too focused on crafting escape plans in his head.

After what felt like ages, but was probably only a little less than a day, a Galra approached the young man. He was something similar to a doctor. A war medic perhaps?

He surprisingly spoke perfect English and understood Matt without a hitch.

Craving some company, Matt couldn’t hold back, when the Galran asked him about his species anatomy. The toffee haired human dove into the subject like an Olympic swimming champion would dive in a pool after 2 months of no water contact. He described everything as detailed as he could remember from the biology and anatomy classes back in high school and the garrison. Heck, he could pretend that his little sister had swallowed her pride and actually asked him to explain something instead of searching up the answer online.

The Galran medic listened and asked questions. It was nice, to have some conversation. It was nice to just forget about the space outside and bout the probably dreadful destination awaiting him, and his father somewhere out in space and Shiro, hopefully still alive and well. He could just pretend helping some sophomore with studying for finals or something. It was refreshing.

After talking and talking and talking and talking he finally realized how much he’s said and abruptly shut up with an apology of rambling.

The medic only smiled and treated the wound Shiro had inflicted before an eternity, gave him a change of prison clothing and left.

Matt smiled, winded and lightly blushing. His hands trembled slightly around the purple fabric. He was filled with adrenaline from talking so much and so excitedly. Only after a few hours did he remember that he could’ve, no – should’ve asked the Galran about their anatomy and inner workings.

And he did the next time the medic came around. This one was easy to distinguish, due to a purple braid reaching till his shoulder blades and a slightly different uniform.

The medic came around quite often. Asking Matt about Earth and technology and whether Matt himself had done any engineering.

The human, of course, answered every single question, elaborate and precise as can be. It seemed like he could talk for days and still would have memoirs worth of information. And unbeknownst to the medic – all Matt’s plans of escape had vanished.

He should’ve known better.

It’s frightening what loneliness and boredom can lead to.

They landed on a mostly green planet with blue skies and purple waters. The Galra purple fortresses fit oddly well into the landscape.

As the unloading of prisoner’s began, Matt was pulled away from his strange fellow prisoners by a Galra he had never seen before. The medic however was standing near the entrance of a bunker-like structure, on the opposite side where the human was being led. If Matt had had his glasses he would see the look of pity on the braided medic’s face.

He was brought into a tall building reminiscent of a tower, the purple metal-like material shone strangely, reflecting the planet’s green surface.

That was the last time he saw that green color and the light blue sky, so nostalgically earth-like, if only the clouds were white instead of deeper blues and violets.

Then there were questions upon questions, and at first it was fine. The aliens just want to find out more about other species – is what Matt thought.

Then there were blueprints. Elaborate instructions. Loads of tech stuff, and Matt thought he was in heaven. He spent days optimizing the faulty pieces of tech the strange Galrans brought him, utilizing his grey cells to their utmost capacity.

When he wasn’t working on a tech piece or two he was reading books the soldiers brought him and learning about the inner workings of Galra tech.

After all they were the ones who had imposed on Galra territory and now the ever merciful emperor had seen value in his brain and given him a chance to repent. Maybe after Matt had done enough, he could even convince the staff to let go of his father. They could keep co-existing in their respective galaxies and live out their lives peacefully.

Then instead of simple “household” tech the soldiers started bringing in more and more weapons and shield projectors.

Upon questioning the Galrans responded that a hostile alien fleet had spotted them and they needed to drive them away to protect the prisoner camp.

Matt didn’t think much of it. Thinking about unnecessary things hurt lately. Plus it kept him from progress, and the emperor needed to be kept safe. Was he even on the same planet as the all mighty Zarkon? Matt didn’t know. He wasn’t allowed to stray from his three-forked path. Upgrade weapons – study – eat/bathe – sleep.

After the routine had become so second-nature to him that Matt could walk around with closed eyes and build a micro plasma cannon core on his way, he started getting bored.

Matt at first tried various different ways of optimization, then moved on to create his own tech from the leftover parts, then had to make more, because – holly quiznack that’s a big hole that gun made! That was fun for a while, but then Matt got curious. He started asking more and more about the weapon’s usages and shipment and wasn’t satisfied with the short clipped answers the one in charge of the soldiers gave him (protection, shipped to equip other fleets, you don’t need to know more).

Then he stopped making and upgrading tech. He had both hit a roadblock in his experiments and wanted to see what would happen if he pulled off a strike.

And the empire had all his blueprints and a whole new arsenal of various weapons. That should be enough right?

It wasn’t.

At first they were patient. Letting Matt get his way for a whole day. His request to take a walk outside was denied tho.

The next day he got locked in the laboratory. When he still refused to work (Matt could be quite stubborn when he wanted to) the general turned to threats. When the human continued to stand his ground, he was brought into a new room.

Matt’s excitement for the change was short lived though, because what greeted him two floors lower was an empty room with a single chair in the middle and what he assumed was an alien version of a two way mirror in the wall.

Torture.

At least he could finally utilize his poli-lingual swear vocabulary to its absolute fullest.

After the 13th time it stopped being funny.

He got to 17 before he couldn’t concentrate on counting anymore.

The torture continued and after endless sick sensations running through his body as the Galrans did quiznack knows what, he finally caved and was brought back to his lab.

Matt was exhausted and weak. He couldn’t move properly for several days. He was sick and tired and felt like a cloth that had been drenched and brutally wrung out until the fabric itself started to rip.

And then, when his senses started coming back he remembered.

“KATY!” the cry was loud in the empty lab and rung in his ears as his echo greeted him.

With a new fire in his eyes Matt threw away the blanket he had been sleeping with and got to his feet.

It was the night cycle of the planet and the living Galras were all either sleeping or drifting in and out of consciousness. It was only the drones and sentries he had to worry about.

Getting past them was easy enough. A few scans and tinkering with some code and voila – the sentries worked for him now!

Moving around was hard at first – what with his legs feeling like wiggly pudding. The kind that Shiro used to gross about. But his body got the hang of it soon enough.

Like a quiet shadow he slid through the long hallways praying to whatever entity could kill Zarkon that the actual guards don’t notice him.

It worked for about 19 floors. After that he utilized his turned sentries and remembered to thank his garrison stamina training. The human raced through the building like he had never before. Time was of the essence and he was quickly running out of it.

Galra numbers flashed before his eyes indicating the floors he passed. He was getting closer. Closer to the exit at whose front carrier ships should be aligned. He was going to use one of them and get the quiz- no get the FUCK off this planet!

As Matt reached the final exit door and made his sentries guard him from the incoming Galra soldiers he hacked the entrance pass and reveled in the fresh air swooping over him as the giant door slowly opened and revealed to him…

...total urbanized headquarters for artillery.

There wasn’t a sight of the green ground and the purple water his mind hazily remembered. Cold metal ground thundered under his footsteps as he gazed on at the rows of weaponry and battleships and the bright magenta shield encasing the base above, shielding away any star or cloud.

It was while looking at these grids of mass destruction – the designs which he knew all too well, that he felt a sharp pang in his back. A pang which escalated into pulsing pain into tearing pain into more and more pain over which he barely heard the commander yell “You IDIOT we were supposed to capture him alive!!!” in Galran.

Matt couldn’t keep standing, and only when he tried to gasp for air did he realize that he was screaming, mouth wide open, cries muted by the ringing in his ears.

The human fell to his knees screaming like a dying animal, which wasn’t all that inaccurate.

His voice drew out in the night and echoed all around him, suffocating him into silence and his body gave out, not being able to keep him kneeling. The boy’s eyes lost their barely there glow as he bled out on the cold, unforgiving metal, alone and dead.

“A shame to lose such a great mind.” The Galra commander murmured in sympathy before turning around, his long braid sweeping behind him.

The sentries cleaned everything up in a matter of doboshes.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooh boy. My first publicized fanfic on ao3.
> 
> Sorry Matt ^^; (I actually started tearing up during the end)
> 
> This is just going to be a series of stories about Matt's life in different realities (you can thank Slav for the thought) and some of them will be happy while others will be sad, cause there are infinite plausible outcomes.
> 
> Well if you read this - thank you very much :) i hoped you enjoyed it.
> 
> And i will also use this work to better up my writing skills.
> 
> Also if there are any mistakes - grammatical or story inconsistency - feel free to point them out :)
> 
> And hey, thank you.


	2. Rumor has it...

~2~

 

“News told, rumors heard, truth implied, facts buried”

/Toba Beta/

 

Matt was unceremoniously tossed into a prison cell. Shiro had escaped and Matt was injured and apparently he was unfit to do anything so he was split up from his father and shipped over to another Galra run prison place. A medic had tried getting information about the human body structure and anatomic properties, but the boy had felt too much like a boiled spaghetti stick to really talk. The medic did an impromptu work of a bandage and was gone as fast as he’d come.

Matt didn’t care much. He was pretty sure that he had come down with some alien illness. Or depression. Heh, if Shiro’d still be here he would laugh. That guy always had a rather dark sense of humor.

But now Shiro was somewhere out in space, hopefully with a steady course set for home, and Matt was sleepy.

So he slept.

The new place was nothing spectacular. The same violet metal, the same sentries and of course, the same air of hopelessness.

The only difference was that all the captives had been given translator wristbands (the Galras didn’t want to deal with trying to explain everything to the prisoners more than once) and the staff was rather chatty here.

However, prisoners were kept in cells by one and in between chatter was rare, as everyone was rather low in spirit.

The only ones stirring up a ruckus and filling the sad outsider days with a little bit of interest were the non-sentry guards, usually young Galra soldiers who needed the guard-time, to get promoted or something.

And man, did they like to talk.

Matt guessed it was midday when a pair of the guards came swinging through the door, chatting up a storm.

“No, I _swear_ my cousin’s friend's dad totally works for one of the main fleets and was with _the_ Commander Sendack!  And he was _actually_ there!!!” The galra walking on the left side, thus closer to Matt exclaimed.

His partner’s ears perked up in recognition. “The commander with the super fluffy ears?” He asked with obvious awe in his voice.

“Yeaaaah” they both seemed to dreamily gaze off into the distance for a few seconds.

“So anyways, they lit the nearby arusian town on fire, yeah? But like no one was there and it was basically a red herring. ”

His companion nodded.

“And then all out of nowhere the red paladin SWOOPS DOWN RIGHT INTO THE FLAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE, HOW CRAZY IS THAT?????”

“Quiznack…” the other muttered in more awe.

“I know right? And he just kept walking among the ruble and _fire_ like it was _NOTHING!_ ” The guard accompanied his story with wide hand gestures.

“But that’s not all, oooooooooooooh no.”

The galra pair had now stopped in the middle of the prison cell lined hallway, taking up their usual position.

Matt could see the taller of the two – and the main storyteller – leaned a bit lower, closer to his buddy and half said half whispered.

“The green one _killed_ Hauxus.”

Then he leaned back with a satisfied smirk gracing his features, as the other’s reaction didn’t disappoint.

“WHAT??? YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!!!! THEY KILLED _THE_ HAUXUS????” He went on like this for a while.

“Yea, a sentry recorded _everything_. Speaking of sentries – they got mowed down like no tomorrow. Also” he paused for dramatic effect. “They captured Commander Sendack.”

This of course was greeted by more gasps and surprise and questions.

The two guards chatted about the failed mission and the possible torture Sendack was going through for the rest of their shift.

Matt just quietly listened and filed the information away in his brain for future use.

~~~

Another time a different pair of galras were conversing with each other.

“And rumor has it – the yellow paladin can make anyone do his bidding. No one can refuse him.”

”That’s nothing!” A galra with the right side of his face covered in what Matt assumed were tattoo markings laughed. “Apparently, if you touch the green one – you’re dead! The whole Voltron will come after your sorry ass.”

“Pffff,” his friend(?) laughed along with him. This one however looked pristinely proper. Hair (or was it fur?) slicked back and uniform in perfect order.

“Also also…” the rougher one continued “There are stories circling around that the blue one is in like a thousand relationships, and also engaged to the head princess of the Avipextics. ” The two fell into a fit of giggles.

“Well I heard…” suddenly a third voice joined them from the door, making the pair squeak in alarm as the fur on their bodies raised a bit.

“… that the yellow one can cook literally _anything_.” The newcomer finished, stepping deeper into the hall. “And that he’s a total boss while doing it.” They finished with a flourish.

“Think he could make the fried potriam egg stew?” The very proper one asked in a longing tone.

“Probably.” The third galra laughed. This one had rather long hair, compared to any other galra Matt had seen, it was kept in a low ponytail.

They chatted a bit about the various fields of galra cuisine and discussed the likelihood of said yellow paladin being able to prepare each dish.

“But man, forget the cooking, the folks who have actually seen the guy claim he’s, like, _massive_ , and muscular.”

The other galras whistled in appreciation and Matt could basically _feel_ his fellow prisoners shudder.

“And he’s cute to boot. “ A dreamy sigh in three different voices followed this statement.

Then the galra all exchanged glances as a whole new topic had been opened.

“Well if we’re talking preferences – I have to go with the black one. He’s just badass, you know?” the tattooed galra spoke up.

“He’s said to be able to tame even the most disobedient of creatures and to have the whole Voltron team and the Castle of Lions under his command, plus he used to fight in the arena. ”

The other two nodded in understanding and Matt suppressed the urge to groan. Young Galras were like teenage girls.

“Well I personally like the red one.” The long haired one confessed. “I mean come on men.” (Matt stifled a giggle at the usage of 'men') “This one went tooth and nail against Lord and Emperor Zarkon himself! And have you _seen_...” Thankfully whatever gossip he was about to spout came to a halt as one of the officers in charge of the guard training came through the door and informed them that their shift is long since over and they are missing some other training.

All three galra guards blushed and with guiltily hung heads scurried out of the prisoner hall, their officer right on their heels.

The hall was once again enveloped in silence, until a prisoner from a cell in the very corner of the hall proclaimed “Thank the stars _that’s_ over.” To which they received a chorus of agreeing murmurs.

~~~

 About a few weeks later five galras had sat down in a circle for what looked like a card game near the end of the hallway, set up two sentries to do the proper guarding part, and were gossiping about exclusively and only - the blue paladin.

“Ok, so do we know for sure that the blue one is male?” One of them inquired while throwing a card onto a slowly growing card pile.

“Oh ya, totally” A galra with a ring around his tail’s end vouched “We have survivors who have heard pronouns.”

“Ok, cool” …”So our fellows say he once tried to court a soldier.” He snickered, catching a glimpse of his neighbor’s hand.

“Peekan, don’t cheat.” Another galra chided quietly.

Matt couldn’t see them too well from his spot.

“But yes, it’s true” the same voice then added. “I guess his species gets desperate in times of peril.”

“oooooooor” added another voice, drawing out the ‘o’ and sounding slightly dazed “we’re just that irresistibly fabulous.”

A chorus of giggles and snickers followed, that turned into straight out howls once the galra with a tail ring sat up and smacked the suave speaker.

The other galra within Matt’s vision spoke up for the first time after his neighbor had made his move. The pile of cards on the floor was a considerable size now.

“I heard he was almost killed by the green paladin just recently. Zapped into oblivion.” He said as he calmly placed yet another card onto the pile, smiling just a little.

“Kii-umi whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????” His neighbor and the one who had to take the next turn wailed miserably, as he picked the whole pile up and tried to hold it properly in his hands.

As next went Peekan. “Well the green one is rather vicious, from what I’ve heard.” He put down a lone card and his companions groaned.

“Peekan you ass.” The dazed one muttered. “And by the way, my sources tell me he’s a really good shooter. He’d probably be fine.” He said sounding way too proud of the mysterious blue paladin than a galra should.

“Don’t forget that he once flew straight into a blaster tower on a Balmera.” The one with a tail ring added and the group erupted in laughter again.

Their game went on for quite some time until one of them said something about a drill and they quickly packed up and disappeared through the hallway.

~~~

Even though the guards themselves didn’t realize it, Matt saw that their chatter and constant gossip actually seemed to cheer the prisoners up, himself included. They all had started to look forward to the boisterous groups or pairs of galra soldiers-in-training jabbering away, discussing the various rumors they’d heard. And when the galras were gone, the prisoners started quietly conversing with each other.

The Earth boy got acquainted with a light orange alien whose face reminded him of a fox’s and who spoke as flowingly as a river. The alien’s name was Bekita and they came from a planet by the name of Starcross. This planet didn’t have the concept of genders, and it seemed to be a part of a greater colony.

Matt decided that he quite enjoyed Bekita’s company and between the guard chatter and the fox alien’s stories, he found newborn courage to prevail.

~~

More things that the Holt learned about the paladins from the gossiping galras included but weren’t limited to:

-All of the paladins being a part of a space pirate gang

-The paladins having a chance of being highly secretly hidded alteans, seeing as they served an altean princess.

-The red paladin having zero impulse control and a mysterious way of getting into and operating any galra ship as well as taking part in underground asteroid belt race courses.

-The black paladin having a fanclub due to countless romance novel stories circling around them.

-Voltron being able to perform one mean kick (and then falling over).

-The blue paladin being wanted all over 6 galaxies due to disappearing after his “proposal” to the previously mentioned princess of Avipextics.

-the green paladin raiding and hoarding any galra ship of its valuable technology and data.

-the yellow paladin also being on wanted posters across 6 galaxies, but because a galra space mall cheff was desperately looking for him.

-A million discourses over the red and green paladin’s gender.

-The paladins and their Altean companions using extremely outdated technology.

-The black paladin being subjected to Lord Zarkon’s obsession with the black lion

-And many more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG you guys are awesome ^^  
> So far i've received 6(!) kudos, 82 hits and even one bookmark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> it just makes me sooooooo happy that people are reading this ^^  
> also this chapter is really lighthearted since the first one was ... well you probably know how that was ^^;  
> and it's also sadly shorter as well. I'll try writing longer chapters in the future...  
> Anyways thank you again for reading this ^^ it makes me reallllllllllly happy  
> Also i think that this setting has a lot of potential, so if you have any ideas, feel free to tell me about them in the comments ;)  
> p.s. proofread the chapter and edited out the mistakes ^^; i guess writing fics at 1 am isn't the best idea :D


	3. From the sidelines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg thank you guys so much for the kudos, the hits and the bookmarks ^^  
> it makes me soooo happy, you have no idea :)  
> I FOUND THE TUMBLR POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://hyolks.tumblr.com/post/156556222170/after-they-find-matt-he-becomes-the-teams-peanut .  
> Also this was written at 1.30 am, so forgive me for any mistakes.

~3~

“I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

/Jerome K. Jerome/

 

The command room of the Castle of Lions was in disarray. This was caused, surprisingly, not by the blue and red paladins bickering with each other, or some surprise attack in the middle of the night by one of Zarkon’s forces, but instead – by the team’s green paladin.

Pidge was practically racing from command panel to her computer, to one of the other Castle inhabitants, back to the panels. All the while muttering “I can’t believe this is happening, I can’t believe this is happening, I can’t believe…” like a mantra, that did nothing to calm her down.

The rest of the Voltron group were sleepily blinking, watching Pidge rush back and forth and occasionally asking for coordinate confirmation.

They all shared a look that said ‘So.., who is going to ask....’ and after a few moments Shiro, being the leader and the responsible one of the group, breathed a sigh of relief when Keith, bless his soul, spoke up.

“Pidge! Calm down, what’s wrong?” He grabbed the green paladin by her shoulders as she was rushing past him to try and calm her down a little.

“You’re not making any sense.”

The young Holt gave him an ecstatic smile before she answered, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong Keith! It’s actually the very opposite of wrong! If my calculations are correct, then everything should be turning out _great!_ ” She was speaking a mile a minute.

“You see, a while ago, when Shiro and I were in that one Galra ship, I downloaded some information, which I thought might contain some data about prisoners or at least something usefull we could use against the galra. But it turned out that it was all written in galra, which honestly shouldn’t come as any surprise, since it is _their_ data, so it’s only natural that it would be in galran, so I started working on a translator program. I used a lot of recourses from Allura’s library, which I didn’t even know we had before this, since none of us are fluent in galra, so most of the translating was by taking examples from an old fashioned language, but I sorta got the hang of it and the pattern down to at least partly believable sentences and…- ”

“OMG JUST GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!” Lance, cut her off, not being able to follow his friend’s speed-of-light ramblings.

Pidge made an annoyed face at him.

“Well, if you’d let me finish I was **getting to that**.” She went over to one of the panels and pulled up a table of what everyone assumed was some important data, and most importantly – the reason for Pidge’s distress.

“So it turns out, that ship _did_ in fact contain prisoner information, but it was a little outdated, if the alien time charts are anything to go by. At first I thought nothing of it, but then a few days after I had half-translated the data, it _updated_ ” The toffee brown haired paladin said the word like it was a concept that could cure cancer and enable time travel.

Hunk however seemed to catch on. “Wait, it updated? Then that would me-”

However he didn’t even get to finish the thought before Pidge struck a determined finger in the air.

“Precisely! That means, there has _got_ to be some kind of connection with the main ship!” She was practically beaming by this point.

“So, I of course did a little digging around, and after an unfair amount of hours, I finally got into their database!!!”

She once again turned back to the panel and typed something in it, pulling up another screen.

“A database, which contained the latest information, as well as all the previous arrangements of the captured prisoners, and I found-”

The screen showed a human that could be Pidge’s lookalike, if not for the different hairstyle in the front, and the tired worn out features.

“That’s-” Shiro couldn’t believe what he was looking at. Did they finally find him?

“- Your brother.” Keith finished what everyone was thinking but couldn’t say out loud.

“I KNOW!” Pidge practically screamed. “And we have everything! His coordinates, his prison cell number, his daily schedule, which by the way sounds boring as-”

“Language!” Shiro chided before the green paladin could finish that sentence. Found family member or not, he wasn’t going to let his team swear. Although he too was overwhelmed by the new amount of information the team now had at their disposal.

“Also he’s very close, if my scans are correct.” She typed yet another row of words into the panel and shot Coran a look.

“Coran! Do you know a planet by this name?” A little holo-screen appeared with some altean name displayed.

“Well …” Coran had to take a moment to collect himself after such a verbal and informational onslaught. He and Allura both hadn’t been able to say a word.

“I do believe it says Jebrow, a planet widely known for its rich resources and beautiful scenery. Or at least that was the case 10 000 years ago.” He added a helpless shrug.

“Pidge, are you sure we can trust this information? Is this really the correct thing to do?” Allura, ever the voice of reason and skepticism piqued up.

“I am going to get my brother and that’s final. And if there is even less than a percent chance it’s correct, I’m still going. ” She said with such an air of authority around her that no one, not even Allura, dared to object.

“……. I’ll set the course then.” The princess said in a small voice, before walking over to her station.

At this Shiro turned to Pidge, determination shining in his eyes.

“We’re going to need a plan.”

When the Castle-ship got close enough to the purplish planet, the lions dispatched from their hangars. Everyone was brimming with excitement from the possibility of finally rescuing the green paladin’s brother.

“Is everyone in position?” The black paladin asked to the coms, to which he received a unified “Yeah!”

“Then operation ‘Rescue the damsel in distress’ is a go!” Pidge shouted in excitement, to which she earned a round of sniggers from her fellow paladins at the mission’s name.

The lions split up in two teams.

Keith, Shiro and Pidge, being the close range fighters, had to infiltrate the prison building while Hunk and Lance were distracting the galra soldiers, elegantly flying around their radars and blowing something up every once in a while.

The distraction had worked flawlessly, judging by their companion’s screams coming from the coms. Now the rescue team had to do their part.

They sneaked in by opening a back door to the facility, which luckily wasn’t being guarded at the moment. Probably due to the blue and yellow lions taking up everyone’s attention.

The team of three navigated the metal hallways with precaution and whenever they happened to come across a sentry or two, Keith and Shiro would make quick work of it, keeping the hyper-focused Pidge safe.

After what felt like way longer than appeared on the map when they first went through the plan, they finally came across the same symbol that had been put next to Matt’s picture in the database files.

Pidge could feel tiny tears forming at the edges of her eyes at the emotion-high and the prospect of seeing her brother again.

They went through a few more hallways, lined with prison cells. Pidge kept moving forward while both Keith and Shiro helped the imprisoned aliens out of their cells and gave them curt directions on how to get out and to the castle.

She could care about other prisoners later, Katy told herself. Right now she had to make sure whether her brother really was held here.

She stopped only a few cells further, eyes locking with similar pools of amber. They both were speechless for a few minutes until Pidge pulled out her bayard, smashed it into the little keypad next to the cell and fell into her shocked brother’s arms.

“Oh my gosh, it’s really you!” She clung to the purple fabric, tears freely streaming down her face.

“Katy?” Matt’s voice was filled with shock, surprise and disbelief. It sounded a little hoarse, Pidge noted.

“Is this? … Is this you?”

He hugged her back with all his might. The Holts were now openly weeping in each other’s arms.

Then

“What are you doing in _space_??? Shouldn’t you be home with mom? What are you wearing?” The questions came out as a confused jumbled mess of words, but Katie Holt just laughed, hugged her brother tighter and after promising to tell him _everything_ later, led him out of the prison cell. Her fellow paladins had already taken care of the other prisoners so the Holts made their way out of the prison, hand in hand.

There he saw Shiro. In a similar attire to his sister’s and next to another guy he didn’t recognize.

“Matt?” The ace pilot looked up in disbelief.

“SHIRO!!!!!!!!!” Katy let go of her brother’s hand and watched with a fond smile as Matt practically launched himself onto Shiro in a bone crushing hug.

She also didn’t miss the slight side-eye that Keith gave the reuniting pair.

After a million questions from the older Holt and promises to answer _everything_ once they get off the planet, Matt was led into a gingerly approving giant black lion.

He sat patiently on the floor of the cockpit next to Shiro’s pilot chair (he was too tired and overwhelmed to stand) and watched as they joined up two more lions and properly destroyed the prison along with the rest of the little galra town. He could hear excited voices coming from Shiro’s helmet, but they weren’t clear enough to be properly decipherable.

He settled for switching his vision between the outside view and the mesmerizing way the violet light of the cockpit reflected off of Shiro’s face.

He also felt a deep growling coming from the lion, but it was easily pushed in the background with the help of Shiro’s voice checking on his team(?) and giving out orders.

A true leader.

After a few days, they had finished all the catching up and were going out on missions again. Following distress beacons and ridding the universe of more and more galra fleets.

Matt had become a constant on the team too. He had been given a com, that connected to the paladin’s helmets (He still couldn’t quite believe that his sister had become a paladin of Voltron on top of infiltrating the garrison and pretending to be a boy.) and he helped them out strategy-wise and gave valued opinions. If the team needed them that is. Matt swiftly learned that team Voltron almost always had everything under control and didn’t really need advice.

Well, he didn’t mind sitting in the back of the black lion’s cockpit on a graciously provided couch (the lion itself wasn’t very happy with the idea at first) and observing the avid fights between the paladins and the galra forces.

“Lance on your left!” Shiro shouted into his com, to which the blue paladin chirped a “Got it!”

“Guys? We should really take out those three big ones!” Hunk’s slightly worried voice carried over “I think they’re the ones giving the commands!”

A chorus of battle cries followed.

They kept sending blasts the three ships way, until a huge, coffin like object was launched out of one of them.

“Oh no.” The paladins said in unison.

“Why ‘oh no’? What is that thing?” Matt asked from his couch.

“It’s a robeast!” Shiro explained.

Matt liked how, even though they could talk through the coms, Shiro always turned his head in his direction when he spoke to him.

It was cute.

And then the coffin unleashed a thing that could most certainly be categorized in the nightmare fuel section.

“Alright team, you know what to do! Attack it from various places at once and if that doesn’t work, let’s form Voltron!!!”

“YEAAAAAAH!!!!!!” The rest of the team replied enthusiastically.

“Kick it's ass guys.” Matt gave his own little cheer, still lying on the couch, head propped up on one hand, looking at the whole battle from the black lion’s eyes. He sort of wished he had something to munch on while laying like this.

While the encouragement statement threw everyone on the team off for a few seconds (they tended to forget Matt was there), they were back at blasting away at the robeast with no problem.

And that is how Matt Holt, scientist extraordinaire, became team Voltron’s couch potato friend, just lazing around the castle or in one of the lions and supporting the paladins with well-timed puns, encouragement quotes and lazy cheering.

And of course, some actual helping with coding, science-y stuff, engineering or galra inside info revealing every once in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Horaaay the reunion finally happened ^^  
> Also this came out a bit longer :) Improvement :D  
> Anyways i give my heartfelt thank yous to everyone who has read this.  
> It means a lot and i'm genuinely having fun writing this fanfiction ^^


	4. Standing up. part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brewing of a storm? Or the start of a beautiful alience? :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this version of possible events going down will be longer and split through parts, because it just needs more fleshing out and more build up than the previous ones :)  
> I'll try to upload the next part on next Sunday

~4~

“And if you don’t believe the sun will rise, stand alone and greet the coming night in the last remaining light.”

/Chris Cornell/

He had heard the rumors filtering through the galra prison’s hallways.

_‘Voltron is back.’_

The fearsome guards the words had been practically whispered under their breaths when passing one another, followed by a louder, almost hopeful sounding ‘Vrepitsa’ as they passed each other.

Having been intrigued by the guard’s weird behavior Matt started asking around.

As it turned out, most of his fellow prisoners were rather friendly, if only slightly depressed (but that just came with being held prisoner) and did their best to explain the ancient legends circling around the galaxy.

It was a bit confusing, seeing as each prisoner seemed to have grown up with a different variation of the story. Ranging from a gigantic robot that was created along with the universe itself and was controlled by five god-like entities that worked as a hive mind, to an all-powerful beast that could tear the universe apart by just breathing too strongly.

Matt took most of them in with a grain of salt. Surely, if there existed such powerful beings, Zarkon’s reign wouldn’t even have started.

But apparently they vanished along with a powerful race. And had only been mentioned in bed-time stories and legends until now.

That part kind of reminded Matt of the TV show “Avatar: The last air bender”.

The aliens asked if his home-planet had any Voltron related stories. Matt answered with “no”. He also told them that the people back home aren’t even sure that aliens exist.

The Holt received either pitying or disdainful stares after that.

‘Not evolved enough…’ He thought to himself. As a few of the seemingly more evolved species turned away from him completely, showing pure rejection of any further contact with the earthling.

Others seemed not to care and kept talking about their cultures, which Matt enjoyed greatly. Who knew that aliens were so culturally organized and sophisticated?

Although there was a prisoner, whose planet had been constantly at war with their neighbors until Zarkon took over that part of the galaxy. The alien didn’t know whether they should be showing hate or gratitude towards the emperor, staring blankly at a spot a little to the right of Matt’s shoulder. None of its 12 eyes blinked.

 

About a week after the Voltron conversation, Matt finally worked up the courage to ask one of the non-sentry guards that rarely graced the prisoners with their presence, a few things that had been concerning him for a while now.

Honestly, the earthling didn’t even expect to receive any sort of … anything really, from the galra, he was just getting more or less bored and decided that – hey! It can’t hurt to ask, can it?

So, as the guard was passing by his cell he called out –

“Hey! What’s Voltron doing?”

The guards head snapped to his direction so fast he was sure it could be counted as a jump scare and would give him the heebie-jeebies for the rest of his life.

“Nothing you should concern your pathetic life with. The great emperor Zarkon will wipe it out of existence soon enough” He practically snarled at the boy. Matt flinched back in instinct, and hung his head, not wanting to keep eye contact with those somehow piercing yellow oculars.

He heard the almost mechanically retracing steps of the soldier, as the galra left the prison cell area and let out the breath he had been holding in a loud puff. Every other prisoner he could see was openly staring at him either mouths agape or eyes bulging wide.

He gave them a shrug as a sort-of-an-apology (it felt right to do at the moment) and decided that he could use a nap.

After about three more days he decided to try again. Only this time he was going to carefully phrase the question so that no galra could get offended, and ask it to someone who looked … friendlier than the last guard he had spoken to.

His chance arose two days later, when a somber looking galra with a sort of a slouch to his gait walked in to check up on the prisoners’ health.

As the guard was checking up on Matt’s condition, he prepared himself to just shoot out the question he had carefully phrased and crafted in his mind and maybe get something better than a glare in return.

Instead the words that came out of his mouth were –

“Are you ok?”

The galra looked at him with what appeared to be slight surprise for a fleeting moment, but was soon casting his eyes back at the tablet in his hands and ticking off another item on a list.

The only answer Matt’s questioned received was a half-hearted hum.

The earth boy took that as an invitation to go on.

“Would it be alright with you if I asked you a few things?” He threaded with caution. Best to be polite and not come off as arrogant or threatening.

The inspector looked at him again – eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“I won’t reveal any floor plans or security system information.” He said with an air of defeat after a brief stare down. Matt couldn’t help but think that this galra felt … _off._

“That’s not what I wanted to ask you at all!” he quickly clarified. If he was going to get answers he couldn’t let this chance slip away.

The galra once again peered into his amber eyes. Confusion more present than ever.

“What then?” He said, sounding slightly less … depressed. Matt just couldn’t put any other emotion to the galra’s dejected like state.

“Do you …” He had to phrase this right. “Do you really _want_ to be working here? For the empire? I mean, you look so … heartbroken.”

Matt mentally kicked the part of him which was responsible for vocalization of his thoughts. This was way too personal! There was no way the galra would open up at him like that! And practically insulting the empire???!!! What was he thinking???

He was drawn out of his self-lecturing by a long and sorrowful sigh from the guard/inspector.

The alien walked over to the small panel next to the cell door and after inserting a quick sequence of buttons, he walked through the slightly purple force field that served the door and bars of the cell. Matt guessed only galras were able to go through them, as he had seen only yesterday another guard enter one of his fellow prisoner’s cells and drag them out and away. The boy hoped with all his might that that scenario wasn’t going to happen to him as well.

Matt pressed himself against the far wall of his cell as his mind raced for possible defense strategies. But the galra man only went to the middle of his cell and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

Curious Matt went closer and sat down next to him.

“You see..” The galra began and Matt leaned closer as if to encourage him to speak.

“The thing is – I grew up thinking that the empire was a miracle maker, which it sort of still is.” He looked at Matt, a little pride showing on his features. “But it’s also not. I mean I love helping make the universe a better, more equal place for all species and I love serving for the Emperor, but…” his voice got quieter, “lately it’s been … different.”

“How so?” Matt asked, just as quiet.

“Ugh, where do I begin… It’s more about power these days. All the talk about quintessence and crystals and _Voltron_ ” he said the last word with an incredulous lilt to his voice.

“I thought it’s gonna be about making _change_ , about breaking apart the barriers that separate the various species. They said we were going to make the past generations proud in the academy… But these days? Everyone just wants the biggest piece of glory they can get. No one even properly checks up on the colonies anymore, and the ones who do can barely hang in there. The Emperor himself has started caring more about capturing Voltron than his citizen’s well-being, pouring every last bit of resources into either fleets that just get destroyed one after another, or the druids, who keep making beasts that get destroyed one after another. And while those funds go to the war fleets and the druids, who probably don’t use them all on their arts, sincere and hardworking galras like me and my colleagues have to live off of rations in a far off corner of the universe where the only connection we have to the mother ship is through aged past its prime technology and the only way we get any news is mostly from prisoner gossip. ”

He stopped, looking more drained, but sitting up slightly straighter than before.

“Then why don’t you do anything about it? Why not speak up? Or at least ask for better tech?” Matt pressed on.

Another heavy sigh escaped the inspector’s lips, his ears, covered in ragged fur that had lost its shine, dropped even lower.

“Because no one listens. Don’t think we haven’t tried calling back for justice and rallying up strikers. It’s just that in the end – no one want’s to lose their job. No one is willing to cast everything aside for a slight chance of change. Not to mention the emperor has become more and more violent and impatient lately. It’s probably Voltron’s influence.”

“What about technology? Don’t you have some sort of network where you can see what’s going on at the other places?” An idea had started to form in the young scientist’s head.

“Like I said – all current resources go to battle fleets and druids. The higher circle doesn’t deem it necessary to update old prison camps.”

“I could upgrade them for you.” The offer came out sudden and way too loud. Matt flinched at his own voice. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be so loud.” He nervously dug his right hand in his hair and started twirling some strands.

The galra laughed

“Ha! You? Upgrade our technology? I don’t think so, but thanks for the idea.” He smiled and Matt considered that a slight win.

“No, really, I could help! And I’m not going to mess with your systems, you can have someone monitoring my actions or whatever. Back on Earth- erm.. my planet, I was considered among the top scientists!” The earthling stood firm.

The guard seemed to consider his offer for a while. Matt noticed that his ears had lifted a few centimeters.

“Let me think this over, crazy alien-boy,” he laughed once more, probably at the silliness of the idea.

Then he got up, preparing to leave, however he stopped and turned back to Matt, who was still sitting on the floor.

“You know? This whole “talking” thing? Felt good to get that stuff off my chest. Thank you.” He flashed a somewhat lopsided smile, to which Matt smiled back.

“Any time! And think about it.” He waved as the galra went through the force-field and entered another combination of buttons. He briefly wondered what that had done.

And if he didn’t know any better, he could say that the inspector seemed slightly embarrassed when they bid their goodbyes.

Feeling fulfilled and happy at the revelation that not all Galras were as cold and heartless as he first thought Matt climbed in his bed, which was as comfortable as alien prisoner beds could get, dozed off dreaming of an ace-pilot with black hair, matching shining eyes and the singing voice of an angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand there you have it ^^ the first part of this adventure. And yes, I just pulled the not all Galras.. card. :D  
> anyways hope you enjoyed reading and thank you so much for all the kudos and hits ^^ it fills my heart with warmth.  
> And speaking of hits - i have >200!!!!!! thank you???? so?????? much?????? seriously ^^ i really hope that people are enjoying this fic as much as i enjoy writing it ^^  
> P.S. if you find any grammar mistakes - feel free to point them out ^^


	5. Standing up. part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galras like naming their kids after Zarkon is my new favorite headcannon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well damn. The one time i actually give myself a deadline and i miss it... by a week.  
> to anyone who's actually following this story - Sorry for the wait ^^; and thank you for reading

~5~

“The sun rises not to be mediocre, but to shine; so should you.”

/Matshona Dhliwayo/

 

* * *

 

Matthew Holt was starting to lose his faith in the somber looking galra person letting him tinker with their technology.

A bunch of days had passed since their little talk and Matt hadn’t seen the inspector (or any other non-sentry galra) again. Sure, the offer must’ve sounded outright senile to the aliens and it’s not like it was unusual for the prisoners to be left in the sentry care for long periods of time, but Matt thought he had really gotten something going with the galra.

He sighed as he observed the empty hallway. It was supposedly night time on the planet so all the other prisoners were sleeping. Their quiet forms illuminated by the soft purple glow of the stripes stretching across the walls and halls and the slight light emitted by the force-field-doors.

Matt wished they would turn the lights off completely. Maybe then he could actually fall asleep. But he knew that it was never truly lights-out time in prisons. The hoping was in vain.

His quiet musings were disturbed by the sound of approaching footsteps making the boy snap his attention towards the entrance of the prison hall.

The steps grew closer bit by bit, moving like clockwork.

Finally someone stepped into the dimly lit doorway and Matt squinted to try and make sense of the figure. From what he could see the newcomer was tall, clad in armor, and very much galra if the lynx-like ears poking out of their head were any indicators.

The captive felt his heart leap into his throat. Was it the inspector from before? Had he taken him up on the offer? The figure was too far for him to clarify his suspicions.

The earthling found himself slightly backing up, when the galra walked into the hall, proceeding closer to his cell.

Stepping closer cleared the blurriness and Matt fully took in the other’s appearance.

Like he had already seen, the galra was tall, slightly muscular and his fur was colored in a slightly darker tone than the inspector’s. He had the usual galra specific big yellow eyes and fluffy ears. He also had a fringe of light purple hair(? Matt still wasn’t sure whether that was actually hair) that was cut short, freely framing his face and a pair of galran handcuffs was strapped to his belt, dangling from side to side as he walked.

The Holt waited with baited breath.

After looking around to make sure everyone else present was sleeping the soldier pointed to Matt. Then he put his clawed index finger to his lips in a universal gesture of ‘be quiet’.

He punched a combination into the keypad by the cell’s door and scanned his hand on a scanner that had probably appeared to confirm a biometric signature. Matt remembered seeing quite a lot of those all throughout the galra ships.

The force field that prevented him from escaping flickered twice before disappearing completely and the galra walked in. He reached to his side and took off the handcuffs, holding them in the human’s direction

It was when the galra reached for the cuffs, that Matt considered his options.

Option #1

He starts a ruckus, wakes up the other prisoners who go into chaos, betrays the galra’s trust and uses the disorder to escape. He runs out of the prison hall and if lucky – finds a route to outside or even better – an escape pod and flees the premise, if unlucky – gets shot by a sentry.

Option #2

He obliges and lets the galra lead him to wherever he must be brought. Whether it’s to the out-of-date tech hub, or his execution/torture for appearing dangerous and sowing seeds of traitorous thoughts into galra’s heads.

The galra is looking at him expectantly.

Matt makes a decision.

He holds out his hands and obediently lets himself get handcuffed. If it really leads to certain death, he figures he can always run and die as a free bird. It would be bad either way honestly.

The galra leads him out of the cell and away from the prison hall.

They walk in silence for a good while.

Matt decides to test his luck.

“Where are you taking me?” He asks trying for the life of him to memorize the layout of the halls.

“Commander Harkon wanted to see you.” His escort replies in a deep voice. Deeper than his appearance would let you believe at least, Matt thinks to himself.

Matt also tries not to look too confused about the supposed commander’s name.

The earthling gets lead through various hallways and it feels like several eternities have passed before they get to their destination point. Any small talk Matt tries to make is shut down in one or two word replies and the handcuffs are starting to make his wrists itchy.

Finally they reach a sliding metal door at the end of a particularly brightly lit up hallway and the prisoner gets slightly showed forward.

Matt steps through the doors and is greeted by a room completely covered in technology. He thinks he could cry at this moment.

It all looks foreign, but at the same time gives him a sense of solitude and safety. It reminds him that even though he is currently being held prisoner by an alien army, he is still very much capable of sabotaging every single piece of their equipment. Just give him enough time to figure out what makes this stuff tick first.

Too mesmerized by all the glowy technology around him the human doesn’t realize he’s not alone in the room and in turn slightly jumps when another person speaks up somewhere to his close left.

“I see you brought him?” It is more of a question than a statement despite the obvious human presence in the room, and Matt turns to face the inspector from a few days prior. He smiles, not feeling any malice coming off of the alien’s aura.

“Yes, Commander. As you requested.” His escort answers, saluting.

“Very well, dismissed, Xarin.” He waves a hand in the other’s direction signaling him to leave. Xarin does as told.

Now, left alone with only the Commander in the room Matt feels more at ease and soon enough curiosity is poking at every cell of his being.

“So, what is this place? Is this the tech you were talking about? Because it looks pretty up to date to me. But then again I don’t really know that much about alien tech, so you’ll have to explain most parts and functions if you wanna get this stuff fixed…” he looks at the Commander with unwavering focus and little sparkles dancing in his eyes.

After a heartbeat he adds “Is that supposed to bling like that?” Gesturing to what reminds him of one of Garrison’s simulation system errors flashing bright-purple across one of the screens.

“Well,” Harkon looks taken aback, probably not expecting the human to be so … into this all.

“The flashing sign indicates that the travel pods are dangerously low on power.” He presses a few buttons on a keyboard and the warning sign disappears. The galra then turn to Matt.

“Do you know any Galra? At all?” He asks curiously, but all Matt can do is give him a sheepish smile and a shake of his head.

“Alright, that makes things a bit more complicated, but fear not, I can translate this to you perfectly. Now, do you really think that you’re capable of upgrading our technology?”

He’s looking at the human seriously, to which the Holt only gives him a mischievous grin “Give me the tools and we’ll see”.

 

* * *

 

They end up spending close to an entire two weeks bringing the tech hub back in order but Matt feels more proud than exhausted. Harkon had complimented him multiple times throughout the process and he had had a blast tinkering with alien gadgets. The upgrades were all a resounding success, save for one (where a microchip got overheated and slightly blew up/melted) and the new tech was – dare he say it – better than on the main ship, where everything was mostly kept afloat by druid magic anyways. The boy was happy that he finally had something actually useful to do and he’d made a new friend along the way. A friend who seems to share his thoughts on how the empire isn’t as good as everyone let’s it on to be.

And not only that.

After some time spent digging through alien blueprints and messing around with various crystals and parts Matt was found out that quite a lot of galras had varying views on the Empire.

And most of the staff working here weren’t exactly happy with their current situation.

The human felt something akin to static run over his spine as he realized that there was the scent of revolution in the air.

He acted quickly and diligently. Aside from getting the tech back in order and learning the basics of galran while he was at it, the human spent his days conversing with as much aliens as he could. Galras and prisoners alike. Harkon had already heard him out on the ideas and had promised his full support for the young earthling. They held little group discussions for the galras (not everyone was so keen on trusting a boy from a planet they didn’t know existed until now) and big, rallying speeches for the prisoners. The result was visible almost instantly.

The galras who supported his idea to rebel against the empire and fight for the conditions they deserved became either relieved or fired up with fighting spirit, while the ones that opposed the idea and stayed loyal to the emperor, well, let’s just say that Harkon and his right hand man Xarin knew exactly how to take care of that.

Similarly the prisoners either roared in approval and clapped after his speeches, or turned away, deeming it better to stay neutral or submissive to their capturers.

A few days after finishing the tech hub and having planned out various strategies in case everything crashed and burned, Matt finally introduced the two forces he had gathered to one another. Galras were put face to face with the prisoners.

For the most part everyone was still on board, even though cooperating with the other side was a little awkward at first.

However there were also instances where the prisoners would either attack the galra, or withdraw from the group as a whole.

And once their differences were settled and Matt had revealed his plans to all of them, they created the first ever Empire’s Rebel Army, led by a human.

Although it was too small to be called an army at the moment.

And quite weak as well. Prisoners weren’t exactly the best when it came to combat, but they got better in the training sessions with the galras. Matt himself learned the basics of combat from his friends – Harkon and Xarin, and was quite proud of how far he’d come, despite never being able to land a single hit.

Until the galras noticed him squinting and standing very close to a holo-screen and forced the earthling to construct himself a device working similarly to glasses. (Matt used this as an excuse to design himself a pair of futuristic video-game like goggles that in his opinion served way better than some boring old glasses)

Now he was a force to be reckoned with. (He still got knocked down a fair amount, but now he could actually see his opponents and strike against them. Their sparring sessions also started to exceed the previous 2 minute max time, turning into ~10 minutes and close to hours when they decided to use the whole base for weapon training.)

However the “army” would still be wiped out in milliseconds if faced against Zarkon’s fleets. They were too powerless and too low in numbers.

That’s why Matt’s plan was to go through the universe in search of allies and new members. Aliens that wanted to rise up against the oppressors and galrans that had lost their faith in the Empire.

They made the ex-prisoner planet their current base and in groups of seven, dashed out in all directions, to comb through the galaxy and then – the universe. While also on the lookout for potential bases and headquarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG almost 300 hits??!!! and almost 30 kudos!!!!!!!  
> you ppl are the best >v<  
> Leave a comment and tell me what you think ^^ or if you have any ideas you'd like to see here.


	6. #justHumanThings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp - it is 1.46 am and i can basically type with my eyes closed about now but i finally managed to create the next chapter! yayyyyyyyyyy!!!!  
> My biggest apologies to anyone who was waiting for a new chapter release, this one was just so hard to write ^^;  
> also uni work got in the way a bit and just life stuff in general...  
> Anyways- have fun reading~

~6~

I’ll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow

/Frank Zappa/

 

A little while after the ERA (Empire’s Rebel Army) was established, its leading circle, consisting of 3 galra ex-officers, one galra ex-commander and his right hand man and 5 ex-prisoners all coming from different races, decided to post some rules and directions in regards to their leader.

You see, the race – human - was so utterly baffling and unexplored to all of the aliens that most of the time, they would be at a loss on what to do in certain situations their lovely leader had caused.

**The codex of determined expected behavior around the ERA’s leader – Earthling Matthew Holt.**

**#1**

_If the leader suggests a new idea it is better to comply with it. If you don’t, he will do it anyways, most likely behind your back where you will have no way of overseeing his actions._

\--

Matthew Holt and Harkon were sitting in the observation deck, inspecting the new updated map of the galaxy they currently resided in, when the human suddenly spoke up.

“We need uniforms.”

Harkon wasn’t sure he had heard that correctly.

“Sorry?” The confusion was palpable: one of his fluffy ears was standing higher than the other, and his head was slightly cocked to the side.

“You know! Uniforms!” The smaller of the pair exclaimed happily. “To let other people- err beings know who we are!”

The galra didn’t share his enthusiasm.

“I find it hardly necessary” He said, shaking his head. “We already know who we are, and until we have confirmed that the other inhabitants we meet aren’t hostile, we shouldn’t blatantly show ourselves to them.” Seeing the human’s bright smile falter the galra added: ”Of course that’s only my opinion.”

“But wouldn’t it bring a better sense of comradery and unity among us? Isn’t that what uniforms are for? Plus if we do run into anyone hostile we can just take them out, no? Come on, it’ll be fuuuuun~” The human pressed on.

However Harkon was like an immovable object.

“Matthew, I really think that there are better ways to utilize our time and resources than prepare custom made uniforms to fit every member of the resistance.”

The earthling didn’t say anything about the subject of uniforms after that and the pair kept studying the holographic map. Harkon sighed in relief, thinking that the human had dropped the idea for good.

That is until roughly 3 earth days later upon returning to his room after some training, he was greeted by a hand-made uniform laid out on his bed.

It was a little similar to his previous galra uniform and consisted of light armor for chest, legs, arms and back, a purple body suit and a belt with various pouches. There were also some foreign symbols on the chest plate in the place where the galra insignias would’ve usually been drawn.

Harkon heaved a helpless sigh.

So this is what their human leader had been up to for the past few days. He had had his suspicions about Matt’s strange behavior, but was relieved that the sneaking around and the evasive actions of his companion hadn’t turned out to be treason related.

As it turned out, Matt had spent quite an impressive amount of time drafting and sowing together various uniforms for all the members of their little army of rebels. He had even gotten the craftiest of their group to help him out.

The human himself now wore a marginally altered prison uniform, the ripped shirt had been replaced with a slightly too-big-for-the-boy shirt that looked poofy on the human’s frame and the dark purple body suit was now made from a thicker material and had a belt looped around the waist. The leader had also gotten his hands on some knee high boots that he proudly wore.

The look completed with his silly vision enhancers, Harkon thought made him look absolutely frivolous, however he only pinched the bridge of his nose in reply to the earthling’s radiant smile.

Harkon soon found out that similar looking uniforms to his had been handed out to all members of ERA.

\--

**#2**

_If the leader hands you anything while saying the phrase “Hold this” you must restrain him from doing anything he is about to do by all costs._

\--

Xarin was escorting Matt to their planning room when they overheard a conversation.

“I’m just saying that this ‘Earth’ he seems to speak of has never been recorded as an existing planet! We don’t even know for sure what his true intentions are!...” The conversation carried on as the leader of ERA got an increasingly annoyed look in his eyes.

When it seemed he wouldn’t be able to take anymore, Xarin opened his mouth to urge the boy away – towards their destination and away from any conflict, however he didn’t get a chance to utter a sound as the toffee haired boy shoved the tablet he had been holding towards the galran.

“Hold this.” He demanded.

Xarin, being put on the spot like that did as told, and watched helplessly as his leader stormed off towards the two aliens having the conversation and proceeded to wreck them with his own input and points, which the previous speaker tried his best to counter. This went on for a little while more and then the Earthling promptly punched the other in their face.

Xarin let out a strangled yelp and rushed towards, to drag the kicking and shouting boy away from the conflict area.

*

Another time a small alien ex-prisoner with green skin and fluffy tufts of fur all over his body was crouching in a corner. By human standards he would be around 9, maximum 10 years old.

Matt was walking past him, carrying a half-finished gadget of sorts, when he heard a sniffle like sound coming from the little being, so worried, he went over to them and in a gentle voice asked

“What’s wrong little guy?”

The little alien managed to form a sentence through some more sobs.

“That *sniff* big purple alien *sob* was being mean to me *sniffle* and told me I will never be … be good enough of a fighter.”

Matt looked at him in disbelief.

“Oh, hell no!” he semi-yelled.

“Hold this!” the still sad, but now also confused alien child wordlessly took the metal box from the earthling and watched as their leader promptly marched off in the direction of the previously mentioned galra ex-officer. And then they watched Matt yell some obscenities at him, and push him into a cell like room and oh stars, was that the space vent? And then Matt was pushing a big red button and the next thing the little alien knew was that one of ERA’s combat instructors was now floating in zero-g in outer space.

Harkon saved the poor galra as soon as the news reached him. Matt got scolded as punishment.

\--

**#3**

_The leader will try to pet you if your body is covered in fur and you have big ears and/or a tail. Or if you reach his standards of ‘cute’._

\--

A tall, golden skinned alien named Riahhha was the witness to this peculiar human behavior.

She was on her way to the briefing room, to deliver a message to one of the commanders about their soon arrival on a red-ish planet.

As she rounded the corner however, she stopped in her tracks and took in the scene before her.

There were two figures in front, both facing away from her. One of them was a young galra ex-cadet who was going through their tablet, most likely doing research, and the other one was ERA’s leader.

Now it wouldn’t have bothered Riahhha in the slightest, if it weren’t for the human’s strange behavior.

The toffee haired boy was silently sneaking closer to the galra, taking extra caution to make sure he was unnoticed. He was very slowly reaching out with his hand, as Riahhha watched perplexed.

When the strange human’s palm was almost in contact with the other’s fur, the cadet’s ears twitched, and the leader quickly retracted his hand.

When the galra didn't make any further signs of noticing the other’s presence, Matt started reaching for the ears again. From her position Riahhha could spot the human’s tongue peeking out of his mouth in concentration. She repressed a giggle.

Finally the human’s hand made contact with the galra’s head, and he immediately began petting the soft fur.

The galra however, jumped quite high in the air at the sudden assault, but couldn’t shake the other’s hand off.

He looked at the leader in a mixture of confusion and betrayal.

“Excuse me, but may I ask what you’re doing?” The galra’s voice came out uncharacteristically high and squeaky. He sounded on the verge of panic.

The human however only kept blissfully smiling as he patted the other’s head and murmured a drawn out “So soooooooooft”.

Riahhha couldn’t keep calm anymore and burst out laughing at this, startling the pair and allowing the young galra to use the confusion as a means of escape.

 

After that, leader Matt had been seen attempting to pet any beings with fur or fluffy skin multiple times by various aliens.

\--

**#4**

_Humans are a race which operates on the day/night cycle and you should make sure that they do in fact get the required amount of rest._

\--

He had been fine yesterday, and the day before. Nothing unusual in his behavior and no indications of fatigue, so Andro, the Traveranian , (A tall, six handed alien with five eyes and two tails from the planet Traverania, who always was hovering just an inch above any surface) almost jumped out of his skin in shock when the leader had entered the meeting room in the morning.

Instead of the usual bright and cheery smile which always looked too energetic, the leading circle was greeted with red glaring eyes which harbored some mean rims under them and a frowning mouth, which barely got out the morning greeting.

ERA’s leader slouched in, hands dangling limply at his sides and feet dragging with audible shuffles. He didn’t look at anyone of the 10 occupants of the room, but instead managing to get to the one empty seat left for him, crashed down in it. The leading circle watched, too stunned to say anything, as Matt very slowly blinked twice, like the action itself was draining his last bits of strength before opening his mouth.

For all the universe, the boy had probably intended to say a coherent, meaningful sentence, but what came past his lips instead was a jumbled, irrational string of mumbles and slurs.

The others all shared a look.

Matt, not being aware of his own incomprehensible state, kept rambling away, until Harkon, being the closest to the earthling, put a firm hand on his shoulder, making him stop and turn, first in the opposite direction, then in the galra’s. His eyes were glazed over with a hint of wonder as if he hadn’t expected the other to be there.

“Hi.” He managed to get out.

Harkon only shook his head.

“Matt?” His voice was stern enough to be taken seriously, without sounding commanding.

The human blinked at him.

“How does your species … repose?” He seemed to be looking for the right words. These as it turned out were not the ones he needed, as the toffee haired boy echoed the last bit, mispronouncing it and flashed him a hand sign with two of his five fingers stretched out, while the remaining three stayed curled. He also graced Harkon with a sloppy grin.

The galra ex-commander pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I mean rest. What do your species do to rejuvenate?”

This got his a better answer.

“Oh……… we …. Sleep?”

Harkon looked relieved.

“Alright and how long do you usually need to sleep for?”

“The optimal time would be 8 hours in a daynight.” The answer was immediate, the earthling seeming more awake now. Although his words still had a slur to them.

“I see.” Harkon pressed on, feeling the conversation getting to the source of the problem.

“And when was the last time you got this optimal resting time?”

This time he was met with silence. Matt quickly shot his eyes downwards, his cheeks tinting a light pink.

“Matt.” The galra’s voice demanded an answer,

“around 9 days ago” he mumbled under his breath.

“Can you repeat that?” This time it was Andro, the Traveranian, who spoke up.

Matt sighed.

“About9daysago.” He said in a rush. However, the aliens around him didn’t need a repeat of that, having heard the boy crystal clear.

He was sent to rest. Andro the Traveranian was to make sure he got the proper amount of sleep and more.

Matt knocked into five different walls on his way.

He also explained to Andro the Traveranian about how humans followed the day/night cycle and how the bright lights had kept his brain awake to conjure up various plans and ideas.

Andro the Traveranian made sure to turn all possible sources of light off when Matt climbed under the soft bedding and soon, the floating alien was pleased to hear even breathing and soft non dangerous sounding wheezes from the leader.

\--

**#5**

_If the leader gets a seemingly useless idea about a new invention or an upgrade to an already existing system – refer to #1._

\--

Adrilla, the galran ex-officer who was now in charge of overseeing the small army of rebels and making sure that no conflicts arose between the various species, was very puzzled at the current moment.

He had been calmly monitoring the halls, making sure no aliens were fighting amongst themselves when the galra came eye to robotic eye with one of the surveillance drones. There would be nothing peculiar about it, except it had a small dagger seemingly taped to it.

Finding this very confusing, Adrilla went to seek out their leader, for he was instructed to report any anomalies or hostile behavior immediately.

Having finally found the small earthling (half of his body in an air vent doing stars knows what) he reported his findings.

“Oh Shrekenator? Naah, don’t worry about that little fella. I taped his knife to him in the morning.”

Adrillas confusion only grew at the human’s usage of “his knife” and his weird need to grant everything a name. Humans, he concluded, are definitely one of the far-out species.

“Is there a reason you did so?” He asked, hoping to get some piece of mind to this whole mess.

“Naah, just figured it would look cool.” The leader shot him back one of his blinding smiles, before he disappeared into the vent again.

Adrillas returned to doing his job. He was also screaming internally the whole day, trying for the life of him to figure out _why_ the drone modification had happened.

The only closure the poor alien got was when he spotted one of the ex-prisoners who he recognized as Matvejevs from the leading circle shaking their head hopelessly and muttering “I told him not to tape that dagger to the drone, but did he listen? Of course not. ‘The fella needs a friend’ he said, ‘it’s gonna be lonely otherwise’ he said, honestly, humans are such an outlandish species. And what name did he bestow upon the poor machine? Shrekenator? Oh stars, I do hope he’ll come around soon enough. Not to mention that his little Shrekenator has already wounded six other beings (...)…”

\--

**#6**

_Do not mention the leader’s youngest family member. Ever. He will start crying. Or go into shock. Uncontrollably._

\--

“So, Matt?” The human turned his attention to the inquiring Markovchian.

“What was your life like before you got captured?”

The Markovchian, also known as Matvejevs and the best mathematician in ERA had been curious about the earthling’s nature for quite some time now, and had finally caught him in an adequate moment – during ERA’s lunch break.

The human’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, you wanna know about Earth?”

Matvejevs nodded. Their leader’s home planet hadn’t been marked on any maps he knew, nor had he ever heard anyone talking about this mysterious “Earth”.

“Well, I was on a space mission with my dad and my crush-- erm… **friend**.” He emphasized the last word greatly. “And we had to recover ice samples from planet Kerberos. You see, no one on Earth really knows that aliens actually exist and we were hoping to find some sort of life forms in the ice that’s covering the planet. And then we got abducted.”

“Do earthlings often venture into space?” Matvejevs asked, comparing humans with other alien species he knew. Most of the other aliens left on space journeys as a rite of passage.

“No actually, not many do. At all. You actually have to study a lot of difficult things and apply to the Galaxy Garrison, or a similar facility, where they teach you all of the currently known stuff about space and space tech, none of which is advanced as it’s here by the way. And well, my dad had already finished the studies long ago and is now a long time astronaut, while Shiro and I were still studying, although he was closer to finishing studies… And my little sister wanted to apply there too so she could… join us … on missions…..” Matt’s voice became quitter, more distant, his smile fading, his eyes slightly fogging over and a small drop of water fell from his left eye.

The human touched his cheek, looking more confused, than Matvejevs had ever seen him. He stared in front of him blankly for a minute or two and then started full on wailing and sobbing about how he has left his little sibling all alone and how he himself was a terrible sibling.

Not being accustomed to situations like this the Markovchian silently sat there and watched, feeling slightly guilty, how the human kept weeping. Then, as if pulled by an invisible force the mathematician pulled the leader into his arms and started stroking his hair. The motion seemed to help as the human’s sobs grew quieter and eventually dissolved into what he later described as hiccups.

Matvejevs held him for a moment longer and then let go.

Matt turned to him with red, puffy eyes and liquid stained cheeks and mumbled out a

“Thank you” between his hiccups.

And although the experience had been quite shocking to the Markovchian, he was looking forward to finding out more about ERA’s leader’s strange nature.

\--

**#7**

_He will try to lick/eat anything that looks even remotely consumable._

\--

Matt was laying on his back on the floor of the ship ERA’s expedition force resided in.

His face, lacking its usual warm tone was pale green now and he was constantly emitting groans and whines.

Robas – the galra in charge of keeping Zarkon and any of his forces in the dark about ERA’s existence was crouching next to him, worry evident in his features.

“Ughhhhhhhhhh I hate my lifeeeeeee” The earthling groaned clutching his stomach and feeling his insides do a death spiral.

“Why did I lick that thing?” He shot a glance at the galra “”Why did you _let me_ lick that thing???”

At being addressed, the galra straightened his back – a drilled in habit.

“Well, Matthew-”

“Please just call me Matt.” The human interrupted him.

The galra started again.

“Well, _Matt_ , neither I, nor my fellow soldiers were expecting that you would attempt to consume a Yulisonji leaf.” He remembered how the small group had barely averted their gaze from their leader, when in the next moment he was asking “What is this?” and when they turned to look at what the earthling had found, they were greeted with him contently munching away on a golden Yulisonji leaf. The plant was more known for it’s sparkling red fruit, although the leafs were sometimes used as spices. Straight up eating one was not exactly recommended however.

The effects had begun after only a handful of moments. The earthling had voiced his discomfort when his head and legs started aching and soon he was rendered unable to walk anymore because a strong wave of nausea had taken over him.

The aliens’ only other option was to scoop their leader up and retreat back to their ship.

Said leader was not happy about that. All the way to the ship he kept insisting that he was fine and they could keep on exploring, or that he could walk on his own, which he absolutely couldn’t. Then he started complaining about the world spinning and his headache growing, as well as his ‘tummy doing summersaults’.

 “Ugh, your fancy talk is giving my headache more power” the toffee haired boy groaned yet again. Then in a weaker more worn out voice he added “Please just call Harkon?”

Robas gave him a curt nod and left to seek out the ex-commander.

\--

**#8**

_By the leader’s own words = bragging rights are non-negotiable._

\--

“YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!” Matthew Holt pumped his fist in the air as his victory cry sounded across the entire training deck.

After days and days and possibly even weeks of trying and training he had _finally_ managed to beat Xarin’s older brother and one of their leading combat mentors – Adrodio.

“TAKE THAT!!!! I BEAT YOU!!!!” he kept celebrating while Adrodio got off the floor.

He had to admit – the human had grown quite a lot during their sparring time together. Especially after the development of his vision enhancers. As odd as they may look.

At the start the galras had just wanted to inject the human with a galra developed healing serum, but after careful consideration decided not to. After all, they had no clue about how the serum would react when in the human’s organism.

Now the earthling was good enough with combat to fight sentries and soldiers on his own.

“This grants me full bragging rights!” The human declared, bringing his training partner out of his musings.

“Come again?” Adrodio asked in a slightly puzzled manner.

Matt’s smirk only widened.

“Bragging rights.” He explained. “This means that since I beat you I am technically better than you.”

The galra’s smile dropped.

“Well I would hardly say that’s the case. You only beat me once, and even then you can’t be sure that you’ll manage to do it next time we train.” He defended.

“Awwwwwww looks like someone’s a sore loser.” The boy sarcastically coed at him while heading for the exit.

“I beat you and that’s it dude, till next time I have bragging rights. And that’s non-negotiable.”

The galra concluded that at times the leader could become down right unbearable.

Like when he told Xarin about his victory and the pair giggled every time Adrodio walked past them.

Or when he wouldn’t let him pick the “cool” weapons for training, because those were ‘only meant for the winning people.’

Or when he used this irritating cooing tone with him.

“There, there, we all lose sometimes, no need to be bitter about it” he would say and pat the galra’s head when he found him meditating in the map room.

This behavior however pushed Adrodio to train more and polish up his techniques, so by their next sparring match, Matt was knocked down in about ten of his earth seconds.

“Who has the bragging rights now?” The galra laughed, while helping his leader up. Said leader was pouting.

“Not fair! I wasn’t ready.” He defended.

Oh humans and their irrationality.

But Adrodio was a nice man, so he let Matt have another go

And completely annihilated him.

 The galra spent the next few days gloating.

After all – bragging rights were non-negotiable, right?

\--

**#9**

_The leader has a little artificial print on the skin of his back. Yes, it is acceptable to ask about it._

\--

“Oh, fish?” The human looked at his audience – Matvejevs, Xarin, Harkon, Riahha and Bellaviti (an androgynous ex-prisoner from a planet with five moons called ßerafitti).

He had currently been explaining some more earth stuff to his friends (specifically oceans and other bodies of water) and Xarin had asked what fish are. The boy’s hands were suspended in air, as he liked to emphasize his words with wide gestures.

“Oh, those must be underwater creatures, no?” Riahha chimed in. her planet also had had some underwater life.

“Yeah!” the human agreed excitedly. “They live in rivers, lakes, seas, ponds and oceans! You can even keep some as pets. Their species vary greatly in shapes and colors, but mostly they all look like…. Wait a sec, I can actually show you.” And with that happy remark, the human started pulling off his upper layers of clothes leaving the others puzzled and slightly flushed.

Matt turned his now bare back to them, not noticing the visible tension and continued on with his story.

“These are called koi fish and can for the most part be found in ponds. They are more of a decorative fish and are very popular.” He explained.

The aliens stared at the marking of two little fish circling each other while connected by a ribbon on Matt’s right shoulder blade.

After a while of silence Matvejevs spoke up.

“Do earthlings usually … show their markings to others?”

“You mean tattoos?” Matt turned to him puzzled. “Yea, it’s no big deal. It’s considered cool even, like a sort of permanent accessory or a message to the outer world.” He smiled to himself. “Why? Do you guys also have em?”

At this the Markovchian shook his head.

“While we do have them, it is conventional that they only be shown around a significant one or someone you deeply trust in and cherish. And it is usually considered rude to ask about them.”

Matt nodded in understanding.

“Well, you guys can see mine any time you want, I don’t mind.” He winked at his friends for emphasis.

\--

**#10**

_DO NOT GIVE THE HUMAN ANY RAW ZEFIR!!!_

\--

“I’m hungryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” Matt whined as he leaned on Harkon, while the galra worked on some device he hadn’t been allowed to touch.

“Then go find Rufus. He should be able to make something for you.” The galra replied without batting an eyelid.

“But I’m also laaaazyyyyy” the human kept whining. “Don’t you have snacks?”

Harkon shook his head. They were currently residing in his personal room, and while he did in fact keep a box of snacks in his drawer, the earthling didn’t need to know that.

“No. Go eat if you’re hungry.”

The earthling let out a groan.

“Maybe I’ll just eat whatever this is then..” he said in a bored tone and Harkon immediately whipped around to grab whatever thing his friend wanted to taste test now.

Turned out it was a glowing blue rod, that was most absolutely not meant for consumption.

He yanked the device away from the human before he had managed to lick it and sighed in exasperation.

“Fine, I’ll give you snacks! Sheesh! Just don’t try to eat whatever you find, please!” he had been picking up way too much earth talk from his leader.

Matt pumped his fist in the air with a silent “yessssssssssssss”.

Harkon retrieved his once secret box of snacks from its hiding place and handed it to Matt, mentally bidding it good bye.

“What is this?” The human asked as he fished out a soft looking ball and gave it a light squeeze.

“That’s zefir, it’s a common appetizer among the galra.” He turned back to his work after explaining the food.

Matt wasted no time, popping the small ball in his mouth. Then another one. And another one. Followed by three more.

They tasted surprisingly sweet and soft. Like biting a cloud. It reminded Matt faintly of cotton candy and marshmallows. Although the taste was a bit more prominent.

He could also swear that there were fragments of … pomegranede? Who knows.

 Then as if he was suddenly hit with something, a wave of energy rushed over him.

“WOW!” he exclaimed. “Ok, this stuff is good. It’s like … drinking six cups of coffee at once!”

Matt was pretty sure he was vibrating.

Harkon looked away from his project to the overenergized human in worry.

“You feeling alright?” It wouldn’t be the first time the earthling’s body rejected something galras consumed on a daily basis.

“Alright? I’m better than alright! Where has this stuff been all my life?” he hugged the box of treats to his chest in a show of love.

“Matt your face is turning pink.” The galra warned.

But Matt wasn’t listening. In fact, after quickly munching down another puffy zefir he jumped out of the chair he had been sitting in and handed the box back to his friend.

“Damn those things are good. It’s like eureka all over again!”

Harkon had no idea what the boy meant by that. He slid the box back in its hiding place.

“Well I have like a bajillion and one ideas of what to do now, pretty boy, so if you’ll excuse me …” and with that the earthling vanished behind Harkon’s door.

“Pretty boy?” Harkon echoed as the door slid shut. He sat stunned into silence for a bit and then abruptly got up. He had to find Matt before the other did something he’d regret. Zefirs were _clearly_ affecting him.

Turns out the earthling was quite hard to find, when he has seemingly been _everywhere_.

At first Harkon checked the human’s own room and found a bunch of notes scattered all over the place with words in a foreign language decorating every surface of the papers.

Then he tried looking in the library, but only found Matvejevs, who looked like he had been attacked. His getup was a mess and his eyes – bugged out.

After asking, Harkon found out that Matt had rushed to him and basically nuked the poor man with questions. Then – rushed out again, presumably towards the training deck.

So that’s where Harkon headed next.

Once he got to the training deck he discovered the room full with k.o.-ed  aliens of various caliber. Adrodio included.

Then he was pointed towards the map room, where a little alien girl was drawing some strange charts and told him that leader went to the blueprints section.

Once he got there – surprise surprise – he saw no signs of the human, only a group of excitedly chatting galras who were praising said human and pointed Harkon towards ERA’s  makeshift cafeteria.

When he got to there he found out that only minutes before Matt had quite brashly instructed that zefirs be put in the menu.

Harkon convinced the chef not to follow the suggestion.

Then he headed to the control bridge, which Rufus had said the leader had mentioned in their brief chat.

In there the galra found more calculation and note pages littering the floor – all in that same unknown script.

One of the aliens looking over the controls explained that the earthling had rushed in, taped various instructions to various systems, written down some more things on pages that now were scattered all over the place and just as quickly rushed out again, mumbling something about Shrekenator.

When Harkon got to the surveillance room, he spotted the Holt in one of the screens. It seemed he was heading towards the meeting room.

This time he would catch him.

It was like an unstoppable hurricane had raced through the base. Aliens everywhere were either confused and out of balance or too bubbly, flushed and giggly.

Harkon swore under his breath.

He reached the boy-hurricane just as the human threw open the meeting room doors, startling everyone inside and yelled

“Hello handsomes! I know how to defeat Zarkon!!! ” He was about to thrust forward a stack of papers he had been holding, but his kegs gave out and the Holt promptly passed out.

Luckily Harkon had been right behind him and managed to catch the leader with no effort.

Matt only regained consciousness after two whole days, waking up with a painful headache and red tinted eyes.

He had been banned from eating zefirs after that.

\--

**#11**

_If the leader says ‘Fight me’ it is not an actual invitation to a fight and you should not fight him. Nor should you acknowledge his invitations to the pit. There is no pit. Stop asking about it._

Adrodio picked up the small yellow piece of paper he had noticed on his desk.

In a very _very_ broken galra it stated – **Meet me in the pit after 6.**

There was no sender name or no further explanation given. Adrodio decided to ask his brother.

Xarin only laughed and told him to ignore it. However Adrodio noticed ERA’s leader intently staring at him for the next few days.

Another time Mathew was arguing with one of the ex-prisoners about the dangers of leaving their base, when, with no further arguments Matt’s brain supplied him with-

“Oh yea? Fight me!”

And the alien – who was quite muscular and tall – wasted no time and punched the leader straight in the face. Matt went flying.

In the alien’s defense – he had been challenged to a fight and engaged.

In Matt’s defense – memes were gonna be the death of him. Literally.

Another time he had Harkon with him, who after Matt yelled the words “FIGHT ME!” to some owl like alien, had pulled the boy back by the back of his shirt and in a warning tone stated “No.” then after looking at the owl alien added “Please don’t fight him.”

The challenges continued to be thrown left and right though. And every time someone did acknowledge them Matt had needed medical treatment.

In conclusion – ERA’s leader was gonna be the death of ERA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and leave a comment to tell me what you think ^^  
> Also oh man this chapter turned out way longer than i expected it to be :o  
> also also pardon me any grammar mistakes plz ^^;  
> And maaaaaaan there were so many other scenarios i wanted to put in here!!!! so many!!!! but i didn't :( because i could barely write these ones.  
> Also also also Matty should soon meet up with the paladins ;D


	7. And nothing can go wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow it's been so long since i last updated :l  
> I am so sorry to everyone who was waiting, but rest assured - this fic is not abandoned :) i still have plenty of ideas to put in here.  
> Also my biggest thanx to everyone who left kudos and comments and bookmarks ^^ you people are the best <3  
> And once again - i am so sorry it took so long, hope you keep reading and enjoy~  
> So the revolution continues :)

~7~

The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate.  
/O.Henry/

 

* * *

 

The plan was simple enough in its execution that nothing could go wrong.

  1. Board the ship
  2. Get captured
  3. Scan the area
  4. Wait for reinforcements
  5. Get freed and raid the ship’s resources
  6. Test all of the ship’s occupants.
  7. Return to base with the new supplies and possible recruits.



Their strategist ( A purple alien by the name Kregh’Bas, whose 4 glowing eyes never blinked and frankly Matt was beginning to doubt those were eyes at all...) had come up with most of it, with some input from the other leading circle’s members.

Frankly – no one had expected their galaxy scanners to pick up a galra empire’s ship’s signal this far away from the mother fleet, but honestly, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. The empire was everywhere after all.

Matt read over the plan again, looking for loopholes or overlooked danger possibilities. After deeming it safe enough he cast a glance around the meeting room.

Xarin was writing down a  list of possible candidates for the job, while Matvejevs was calculating the outcome variation possibilities.

Harkon was briefing Ardilla and Aχῖ (another one of the ex-officers) who had come in late, about the details of the plan and Riahhha was going over the preparation list, which the rest of the circle were to supply.

The human’s mind felt at ease. They had this one in the bag.

ERA had been trained well enough in the past few months and could flawlessly take down sentries and soldiers alike, provided they were attacking in groups. Matt himself had managed to climb quite high in their army’s combat rankings.

He took a deep breath and in a nonchalant, but loud enough voice to be heard exclaimed:

“I’ll go.” There was a smile playing on his lips.

_In his mind he uttered the words “I volunteer as tribute”._

The room fell into silence, which got shattered only a couple of seconds later by a wave of disagreements.

“What? Why?”

“You can’t go! You’re our leader!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to send one of the cadets?”

“Hmm, well if you were to go, the possibility of a positive result would significantly increase, however…”

“Why would you want to throw your life away like that?”

“Why would you want to go back to being a prisoner?”

“What if the plan fails?”

“We can’t lose our leader!”

(…)

Matt sighed, shaking his head about the sudden uproar. He knew there were at least 3 ways for him to settle the arguments.

#1 Cave and let a lower importance alien go.

            -Heck no

#2 Take command and order everyone to let him do it.

            -What are you, a jerk? Leave that stuff to Iverson.

#3 Calmly explain why you are the best choice and assure everyone that there is no need to worry.

            -Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

“Guys, guys, guys.” The boy overtalked the ever rising commotion.

“Just relax, ok? This mission isn’t risky enough to endanger anyone’s life, the ship is too far away from the main fleet. It’ll be fine.

Besides, I will only have to get captured and wait for you, right? If things get too out of hand I can always fight them off and escape, yea?”

He saw understanding flash across the circle’s member’s features.

“And we all know I’m the best diplomat around, not to mention – I’ll have a com on me at all times. We’ll be able to keep communications throughout the whole mission.

And honestly? I don’t want to be the kind of leader that sacrifices his troops while watching safely from the sidelines. If I want your trust, I have to prove that you’re putting it in the right place.”

His little speech seemed to have carried the point across, as the circle, albeit reluctantly, agreed that he can go and they should start on the preparations.

In about an hour the designated mini-ship for the mission was stacked with the necessary supplies and ready to launch. Matt stood just outside it, re-checking his equipment for the fifth time to make sure that everything was in order.

There were troops scurrying all around him with equipment meant for the “rescue & raid fleet” which was being assembled a bit further down the launch hall.

The human watched fondly at his army, pride evident in his eyes. They had come so far in these few months. Maybe they really did stand a chance against Zarkon and his empire? Oh who was he kidding – ERA was going to barge into Zarkon’s mother fleet’s main ship and completely destroy his tyranny. Yes. Not a thing to go wrong.

He snickered to himself. Oh if only things could be so easy.

“You seem to be in a good mood” He heard the familiar voice of Harkon approaching from his left. Still smiling the boy turned his friend’s way.

“Have to, can’t have the main pilot ruining the atmosphere now can I?”

Harkon sighed fondly. “I guess not. So … are you ready?” His voice took on a more serious tone.

“Pfft, born ready!” Matt brushed him off with an exaggerated wave of his hand.

Truth be told the earthling was more than just a little nervous about the whole plan, but he couldn’t have that showing and discouraging the others. He had taken on this job, so he had to go through with it. No more getting cold feet.

A shrill beeping noise from a watch like object on Matt’s right wrist informed him it was time for departure.

“Welp – wish me luck!” He mock saluted with two fingers and a grin before getting into the mini-ship.

Harkon’s first instinct was to say ‘Vrepit sa’, but he caught himself just in time to change the phrase to “May the stars be with you” Which for some unfathomable reason had the earthling breaking into a fit of giggles.

Humans. Such fascinating species.

And so mission “Bait and Raid” was a go.

Matt sat in the pilot’s seat navigating the mini-ship with ease, his mind preoccupied with thoughts about possible star wars sequels. Would he ever get the chance to see them? Were they even continuing them? Probably. Had his ship sailed? Hopefully.

He shook his head and slapped his cheeks two times, temporarily letting go of the controls.

_Focus Matthew._ The boy willed himself to relax and concentrate. Now was definitely not the time to get all nostalgic. Lest he starts thinking about Shiro………. Damn!

Thankfully he didn’t get to wander too far down the memory/speculation rabbit hole before his ship stopped going forward and got engulfed in a bright purple ray of light.

Retractor ray. He had gotten into the Galra ship’s field of scanners and upon neglecting to answer any incoming signals (which the mini-ship was rigged to ignore) his ship had been deemed worth investigating.

All according to plan.

Matt let go of the controls and focused on his breathing to calm his nerves. This situation felt too familiar for his liking. The powerlessness of being sucked into a ship with no way out.

Almost instantly after he had gone through the standard calming exercises he felt the ship being docked and the door was forced open.

Two pairs of metal hands grabbed the human and roughly pulled him out and onto the docking bay floor, forcing him into a kneeling position.

Matt looked up and was met with the purple face of a Galra commander who glared down at him.

“Identify yourself! What purpose do you have here and why didn’t you answer a single signal flair we sent for you?”

The Holt feigned ignorance as much as possible.

“I-I was just passing by, I don’t mean any harm, please don’t hurt me!” He bowed his head back down for added effect of helplessness.

And as the final push he said “I come in piece.”

This seemed to do the trick.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” The galra practically growled. “Check for any unwelcome devices and take him to a cell!” He barked the orders and Matt was roughly pulled up and checked for weapons or any other harmful devices. Although they did find and confiscate his watch, belt, self-defense knife and fake communicator, they left his glasses and translator after Matt briefly explained to them why he absolutely had to keep them on him at all times. The galras who were entrusted with the check-down also didn’t manage to find any of the concealed scanners or the actual com device, much to Matt’s relief.

As they started escorting the intruding human towards the cells, the boy quickly tapped a button on his translator and the built in scanner began its job, sending low frequency electromagnetic waves throughout the structure, and picking up on the layout.

As the scanner got to work Matt also did his best to memorize the path he was being taken through. Straight through a hallway turn left go through the automatic door, through the room of confiscated gadgets which was where they put his things, and wow was that a whole section for confiscated weaponry? Damn will they regret taking him through here when ERA gets on board. Next he was led down two flights of stairs and taken through another long hallway with some turns here and there and then finally they reached a surprisingly empty holding cell area.

Matt deduced that all their prisoners were either held somewhere else (like a different part of the ship, dedicated to prison cells) or had been let go, which to him seamed a tad unlikely… unless this was one of those ships that didn’t keep unnecessary trespassers.

A part of him hoped it was the latter.

He was put into the holding cell, trademark galra purple force field activating to serve as doors, and left alone. As soon as his escort shut the metal door behind him the human scanned the area for any cameras or other surveillance stuff. Upon finding two cameras he went to their blind spot and turned on his communicator.

“This is Matt, I’ve successfully boarded their ship and am now in holding. Come in.”

He listened in for the reply but got nothing.

“Hello? This is Matt.”

Still nothing.

He checked the device to see if it was working properly and it was indeed turned on and functioning.

“Can you hear me? ERA?”

The human felt slight panic starting to rise in his chest.

Why was no one responding? Did the signal not carry that far? No that couldn’t be it. They had tested the coms out through further distances and they worked perfectly fine. Could there be something that didn’t let the signal through?

He went to the nearest wall and started examining it. Hard solid metal, just like the cells were usually made of. He slid his fingers over the smooth surface, frantically trying to figure out what had caused the system malfunction. Technically if the walls had a different metal infused in them could they hypothetically cancel out the signal waves? If the material the walls were made of was different than what they had on ERA’s ship then it could be a possibility. But since his scanner was working fine before (or so he hoped) he concluded that the special material was probably only used for the holding cell and possibly the actual prisoner cells if they had any. In hindsight it would make sense – not to let trespassers communicate with anyone outside the holding cell.

In conclusion – unless he can get out of the cell he won’t be able to communicate with ERA. All that he can do is wait for their mission to begin phase 4 and hope that the ships interior plans had reached the others.

This discovery made the boy really frustrated. Like some sort of damsel in distress he had to patiently sit and wait. For the rescue team. Sit, wait and hope.

The earthling slumped into a sitting position with a groan.

Wait wait wait wait wait wait. What utter bs!

Of course it was just his luck that the plan went wrong. Of course they wouldn’t have taken it as a possibility that the other ships would have a different interior build, or different construction, or different design.

He hoped that Harkon would understand the situation from the lack of communication and that his commanders wouldn’t become too worried for his sake. The plan was still in action (provided they received the ship’s layout plans) and this was just a minor inconvenience.

Thinking like that put Matt’s mind more at ease. He was going to be fine. He just had to have faith in his ERA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyy ending on a cliffhanger!!!!   
> So this took a hella long time to write. Mostly because for some reason i am suuuper unproductive when i'm at home, and it's summer break so...... yea.  
> Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this <3   
> Tell me what you think in the coments ^^ or message me on tumblr @vampiregokudera ^^

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading :)  
> And if you have any ideas for future chapters - feel free to write them in the comments


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